SILVER, EDWARD R.
Remains Identified 2011
Name: Edward R. Silver
Rank/Branch: USAF, O4
Unit:
Date of Birth: 02 February 34
Home City of Record: Junction City, OR
Date of Loss: 05 July 68
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 171300N 1062800E
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F4C
Other Personnel In Incident: Bruce E. Lawrence
Source: Compiled by THE P.O.W. NETWORK 02 February 93 from the
following published sources - POW/MIA's -- Report of the Select Committee
on POW/MIA Affairs United States Senate -- January 13, 1993. "The Senate
Select Committee staff has prepared case summaries for the priority cases
that the Administration is now investigating. These provide the facts about
each case, describe the circumstances under which the individual was lost,
and detail the information learned since the date of loss. Information in
the case summaries is limited to information from casualty files, does not
include any judgments by Committee staff, and attempts to relate essential
facts. The Committee acknowledges that POW/MIAs' primary next-of- kin know
their family members' cases in more comprehensive detail than summarized
here and recognizes the limitations that the report format imposes on these
summaries."
On July 5, 1968, Major Silver and First Lieutenant Lawrence were the crew of
an F-4C on a night armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. Their
aircraft was hit by hostile anti-aircraft fire. Their wingman observed
their aircraft turn into a large fireball with streaks of fire trailing out
of the bottom, followed by a second smaller explosion. There were no
parachutes observed and no beepers heard. Intense hostile fire prevented a
daylight search of the area. Both airmen were declared missing in action.
During Operation Homecoming, a returning POW reported seeing a propaganda
film which included the showing of a body in a flight suit. The returnee
was "almost positive" the name strip on the suit was "Silver."
No returning U.S. POW was able to report either of the missing crewmen in
captivity. Both were later declared killed in action, body not recovered,
based on a presumptive finding of death.

NATIONAL LEAGUE OF FAMILIES

OF AMERICAN
PRISONERS AND MISSING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

UPDATE: September 2, 2011

AMERICANS IDENTIFIED:
There are now 1,683 Americans listed
by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) as missing and
unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War.On August 29th,
DPMO posted the names ofCol
Gilbert S. Palmer, Jr, USAF, listed MIA in Laos 2/27/68, and Lt Col Edward D. Silver,
USAF, listed MIA in
North Vietnam 7/5/68, as
accounted-for. Col Palmer’s remains were jointly recovered
on 11/17/09 and identified 5/19/11. Lt Col Silver’s remains were
repatriated 6/26/98 and identified 5/31/11. DPMO also
recently posted the news that Major Thomas E. Clark, USAF,
PA, listed as MIA in Laos on 2/8/69, and Major Bruce E. Lawrence,
USAF, NJ,listed as MIA in North Vietnam 7/5/68, are now
accounted-for. Major Clark’s remains were jointly recovered on
11/16/05 and identified 6/3/11. Major Lawrence’s remains were
recovered 6/26/98 and identified 6/3/11. The number of Americans returned and
identified since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is now
900; another 63 US personnel, recovered post-incident
and identified before the end of the war, bring the total to 961.
Of the 1,683 unreturned American veterans from the Vietnam War, our
POW/MIAs, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and
Cambodia under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam�1,292
(VN-473, VS-819); Laos�326; 6; Cambodia�58; Peoples Republic of
China territorial waters�7; over 450 were over-water losses.

Three
Airmen, One Naval Aviator Returned To U.S. For Burial

The Department of Defense
POW/Missing Personnel Office has released the names of three
aviators missing in action from the Vietnam war whose remains
have returned to the U.S. for military burials.

Air Force Lt. Col. Edward D.
Silver, 34, of Junction City, Ore., was buried on June 6, in
Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington D.C. On June 7,
there was a group burial service at Arlington National Cemetery
honoring Silver and the other crew member, Maj. Bruce E.
Lawrence, 25, of Easton Pa. Lawrence was buried on Sept. 21,
2011, in his hometown.......